The state is in the process of hiring more contact tracers to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Deputy Secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk of the Department of Health Services says about 1,000 people already applied for openings. She expects they’ll use projections for future cases, when they decide how many to add.
Willems Van Dijk says the department has added about 200 contact tracers since March, and they’ve interviewed more than 14,000 people.
She says their goal is to have enough tracers, between state and county health departments, so they can interview people within 24 hours of a positive test. They also want to talk with all of the recent contacts of each positive case, within 48 hours.
